GOENAWAN MOHAMAD’S OPENING SPEECH AT THE WORLD POETRY FESTIVAL – KUALA LUMPUR, 17 AUGUST 2004 I would like to thank you for having me here, in this extraordinary gathering of poets, and for giving me the honour to begin our conversation. However, I must confess my nervousness; I know that each … [Read more...]
Writings
After ’98: Censorship, compromises and resistance
October 2015 was a busy and controversial month for Indonesian literature dealing with the history of the 1965–66 mass killings in Indonesia. First, there was the Frankfurt Book Fair where Indonesia was the focus country then, two weeks after that, the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival (UWRF) was … [Read more...]
Becoming Ungovernable: Latah, Amok, And Disorder In Indonesia
If there is one Indonesian word you know, it’s probably amok. As in children dressing in Halloween costumes and running amuck, amuck, amuck (that’s a quote from the 1993 movie Hocus Pocus). The original connotation isn’t cute, though. It’s not playful. It’s an episode of frenzied violence, a sudden … [Read more...]
Being a Writer While Young and Female in Indonesia
To all fellow young female writers in Jakarta At an art exhibition a man grabbed my shoulder out of nowhere. He pushed out his bony chest and said, “Hey, I’m a painter!” He looked surprised when I shook his hand off my body and frowned at him – as if that was not the usual reaction he got when he … [Read more...]
Being silenced in Ubud
The recent Ubud Writers and Readers Festival (UWRF) 2015 controversy raises the question: Whatever happened to our much-vaunted freedom of speech? Three discussion sessions related to communism and 1965 were canceled, including a panel on Bali in 1965, a screening of The Look of Silence by Joshua … [Read more...]